Section 66-B. Registration and reports by certain persons promoting or opposing the adoption of proposed constitutional amendments by the constitutional convention convening in the year nineteen hundred sixty-seven  


Latest version.
  • 1. Every person retained or employed  for  compensation  by
      any  person,  firm,  corporation  or  association who, on behalf of such
      principal or employer, promotes or opposes directly  or  indirectly  the
      adoption  of  a  proposed  constitutional amendment or amendments by the
      constitutional  convention  convening  in  the  year  nineteen   hundred
      sixty-seven,  whether  or not he has a personal interest therein, shall,
      before any service  is  entered  upon  in  promoting  or  opposing  such
      proposed  constitutional  amendment or amendments, file in the office of
      the secretary of state a writing subscribed by such person  stating  the
      name  or  names  of the person or persons, firm or firms, corporation or
      corporations, association or associations, by whom or on whose behalf he
      is retained or employed,  together  with  a  brief  description  of  the
      proposed  constitutional  amendment  or amendments in reference to which
      such service is to be rendered.
        2. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to provide a  docket
      to be known as the docket of constitutional convention appearances, with
      appropriate blanks and indices, and to forthwith enter therein the names
      of  the  persons  so  retained  or  employed  and of the persons, firms,
      corporations or associations retaining or employing them, together  with
      a   brief  description  of  the  proposed  constitutional  amendment  or
      amendments in reference to which the service is to  be  rendered,  which
      docket shall be open to public inspection.
        3.  Upon  the  termination  of such retainer or employment the fact of
      such termination, with the date thereof, shall be entered in the  docket
      by  the  secretary of state upon receiving written notice to that effect
      from such person or from the person, firm, corporation or association in
      whose behalf such service has been rendered.
        4. No person, firm, corporation or association shall retain or  employ
      any person to promote or oppose any proposed constitutional amendment or
      amendments  for  compensation  contingent  in  whole or in part upon the
      adoption  or  defeat  of  any  such  amendment  or  amendments  by   the
      constitutional   convention,   and  no  person  shall  accept  any  such
      employment or render any such service for compensation  contingent  upon
      such adoption or defeat.
        5.  No  person  shall for compensation engage in promoting or opposing
      any  proposed   constitutional   amendment   or   amendments   by   such
      constitutional  convention  except upon appearance entered in accordance
      with the foregoing provisions of this section.
        6. It shall be the duty of every person, firm, corporation, public  or
      private,  or  association,  (whether or not required to file pursuant to
      the  provisions  of  subdivision  one  hereof),  not  later  than  April
      fifteenth,  nineteen  hundred  sixty-seven, to file in the office of the
      secretary of state an itemized statement verified by the  oath  of  such
      person, or in case of a firm by the oath of a member thereof, or in case
      of  a  domestic  corporation  or  association  by the oath of an officer
      thereof, or in case of a foreign corporation or association by the  oath
      of  an  officer  or  agent thereof, showing in detail all expenses paid,
      incurred  or  promised  directly  or  indirectly  through  April  third,
      nineteen  hundred  sixty-seven, in connection with promoting or opposing
      any constitutional amendment or amendments which may be proposed at such
      constitutional convention, with the names of the payees and  the  amount
      paid  to each, including all disbursements paid, incurred or promised to
      persons employed or retained up to such date, and  also  specifying  the
      nature  of such constitutional amendment or amendments, and the interest
      therein of such  person,  firm,  corporation  or  association;  provided
    
      however  no  such  itemized statement need be filed if the total of such
      itemized expenses for the period ending April  third,  nineteen  hundred
      sixty-seven is less than two hundred fifty dollars.
        7.  The  provisions  of  this section shall not apply to the state nor
      shall subdivisions one, five and nine of this section apply to a county,
      city, town, village, public board or institution,  or  their  agents  or
      employees;  nor  shall  the  provisions  of this section be construed as
      affecting professional services in drafting  a  proposed  constitutional
      amendment  or amendments or in advising clients or in rendering opinions
      as to the construction and effect of  any  constitutional  amendment  or
      amendments   which  may  be  proposed  at  such  convention  where  such
      professional service is  not  otherwise  connected  with  constitutional
      convention action.
        8. On or before April twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred sixty-seven, the
      secretary  of  state shall furnish to each delegate to such convention a
      summary of the information contained in  the  docket  of  constitutional
      convention  appearances,  and on or before such date shall also transmit
      to the president of such  constitutional  convention  a  copy  of  every
      statement  filed in his office up to and including such date pursuant to
      subdivision six of this section.
        9. Every person, every member of any firm, and  every  association  or
      corporation  violating  any  provision  of this section and every person
      causing or participating in a violation thereof shall  be  guilty  of  a
      misdemeanor  and,  in  case  of  an  individual,  shall be punishable by
      imprisonment in a penitentiary or county jail for not more than one year
      or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by both,  and,  in
      case  of  an  association or corporation, by a fine of not more than one
      thousand dollars. And in addition to the penalties hereinbefore  imposed
      any corporation or association failing to file the statement of expenses
      prescribed  by  this section shall forfeit to the people of the state of
      New York the sum of one hundred dollars per day for each  day  following
      the  expiration  of  thirty days after the time fixed by subdivision six
      for filing such statement, to be recovered in an action to be brought by
      the attorney general.
        * NB (Expired see § 2 of Ch. 7 of the Laws of 1967)